FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to step down next year, foreshadowing net neutrality's end

Dive Brief:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced he is stepping down and leaving the regulatory agency on Jan. 20 with the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, as reported by Recode.
One immediate fallout from Wheeler’s move is the almost certain end of net neutrality. The set of rules, put into place last year after a tough, highly politicized battle, prevent internet service providers from providing priority access to websites either for a fee or because the ISP has a business interest in the website. A common example offered is Comcast or Verizon charging Netflix to continue its streaming capabilities in terms of speed and quality.
Trump has gone on record opposing net neutrality, and the political fight over the rules now in place are largely split over party lines, with Republicans against the regulations.

Dive Insight:

What the end of net neutrality means for digital marketers and advertisers is up for debate, but the change would inevitably degrade the online consumer experience if policies like bandwidth throttling make a widespread comeback. For users already fed up with intrusive digital ads like interstitials, internet frustrations will only grow, potentially leading to a larger adoption of technologies like ad blockers.

On the business end of things, ISPs like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T have been vocally against net neutrality rules while tech firms and digital platforms like Netflix, Facebook, Google and KickStarter have made it clear they will fight for them. Netflix, for example, contributed millions to get the regulations in place.

It’s also not clear how other changes in the FCC's political makeup will impact marketers, but legislation around privacy that would impact data-driven marketing and third-party insights could be another area to get overturned. A number of FCC policies from the Obama administration have been viewed as burdensome and out of touch with the internet to digital marketers and advertisers.

Current Republican FCC commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai have both gone on record stating they plan on rolling back much of what the current lineup of commissioners has enacted, and stopping regulations that are still in debate.